“I’m not sure. She never told me.”
She lowered her arm. “You don’t talk about her much.”
He smiled sadly. “She was strong but afraid. My entire life…I remember her always with fear in her eyes.”
“What did she fear?”
He moved like the wind, tripping her but catching her with a hand to the small of her back as they hit the ground. His mouth hovered above hers, his blade to her throat as he said, “You.”
“The gods,” she whispered. “She feared the gods.”
He planted a quick, hard kiss to her mouth, lifting the sword and pulling them both up. “Yes, though I never learned exactly why. Something to do with me, I think.”
“She wanted to keep you safe,” she said softly. “I understand. Our world is a dangerous one for mortals.”
He grabbed her hand. “Don’t. You don’t need to protect me, remember? Besides, I just handed you your ass in a duel.”
Her lips twitched. She could have beat him easily, and she was sure he knew that. She just couldn’t stand hurting him.
Chapter 19
Vane was late again.She ground her teeth, irritated it was making her so anxious. She didn’t care about him—or at least, that was what she repeated in her head as she waited. But as soon as she heard footfalls crunching on the frost-covered grass, she whirled, eyes wide.
“You haven’t begun,” he said.
He sounded tired, and the circles under his eyes had darkened into deep shades of violet.
She shrugged, trying to brush off how worried she was. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I thought we agreed yesterday we are not friends.”
“We’re not.”
He strode towards her. “Finish your strengthening circuit quickly. We’re going to go through the basics of hand to hand combat today, in case you ever get caught on the ground during battle.”
“I hardly think one day will help,” she muttered, lowering to the cold, hard ground.
“Perhaps not. Or maybe it will save your life.”
She put her hands behind her head and began to lift her torso. Her muscles burned, but she thought they had begun to finally get stronger.
“What’s with you and saving my life?” she said between puffs of air. “Like you said, we aren’t friends.”
Vane loomed over her. “Your words, not mine. But if you need the truth, King Johannas assigned me to you for a reason.”
She grunted, lowering into a pushup. “Because of my dragon and my—magic.”
“Amongst others, but yes.”
“Others?”
He nudged her with his booted foot and ordered, “Up. We’ll run our lap and then begin.”
She clenched her jaw at his cold demeanor. He was hiding something beneath it, but she had yet to see him crack today.
As they ran, she noticed his limp was already gone—or maybe he was just exceptionally good at hiding it. Despite how exhausted he appeared, he was still faster than her and hardly out of breath by the time they finished.
“Let’s go.” He waved his hand and began to jog over to the dragon field, ignoring the fact that she was still doubled over and breathing hard.
